Highlight Reel: The best of my trips to Formula One races

I found my personal heaven. My private paradise. 

It’s a glorious cathedral of speed, of mechanical complexities far beyond my realm of knowledge, of record-breakers and history-makers. When I first heard the roar of a Formula One engine, I stopped dead in my tracks. The vibrations traveled up my spine, vertebrae by vertebrae, each guttural note from the engine’s mouth slamming into my brain. Paralyzed, I stared at the metal beast flying by, its curves and twists and wings feeling both brutal and angelic. Both alien and human. I stood at the top of the bleachers of turn 15 at Circuit of the Americas in Texas, and I fell in love. 

I recounted the memory to my mother only last year, the first time she attended an F1 race with me and my dad. We were sitting on the grandstand, and as we waited to head to our seats, I heard the familiar symphony of those metal creatures as they ran laps, and I couldn’t help the tears that sprang into my eyes. There was a stutter in my voice and my hands seemed to shake as I tried to maintain my composure. I couldn’t fully encompass all my emotions out loud, on the spot, as I can do here in writing. 

There is nothing that compares to attending Formula One races. Absolutely nothing. I have attended the US GP annually since 2014 but obviously not in 2020 due to COVID-19. Each year is an adventure, and easily the thing I look forward to most every year. Here are some of my favorite experiences over the years. 

2014: The year I found him. 

I’ve always remembered a post I found on social media that said, “You don’t choose your favorite driver, they choose you,” and I think that’s absolutely true. Because I certainly didn’t seek out Sebastian Vettel. It seems like he found me. As I’ve written in other posts, I remember the exact time and day I first saw him, and have spent innumerable hours since then trying to parse through the memory and unearth the telling details about why I became so enthralled in the blink of an eye. I have yet to discover it. 

I had worlds of fun at my first race, indulging in Texas BBQ and the like as I explored my newfound passion. It truly was one of the most wonderful moments of my life, and I will cherish the memory dearly. 

2015: The year of the tropical storm.

Yes, a literal tropical storm. My dad and I missed our connecting flight to Austin, and arrived a day later, heading straight from the airport to the track. And well, because there was a storm it was pouring rain. I wasn’t dressed properly, and the poncho I brought did little to halt the sideways rain coming down on me. I remember drying my soaked shoes with a hair-dryer in the hotel room that night, and watching then teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat slow dance in the pitlane as they waited for the rain to lift during a practice session. It didn’t rain during race day, but the high winds certainly did keep me on my toes as we were sitting on the very top row of the bleachers at our corner.

2016: The year I found out I wasn’t much shorter than the drivers. 

Back for my third year, and it wasn’t raining. Hallelujah. It was another Lewis Hamilton win, but I still enjoyed my time. There were life-size cutouts of the drivers all around this central area of the grounds, and I guess I had never thought about how my five foot four frame would stack up against an F1 driver, but they’re certainly smaller than you think. Most are under 6 foot, and majority are only a few inches taller than me. I took far too many photos with the Sebastian Vettel cutout and got laughed at by strangers. I also got fairly close to Lewis Hamilton when he was signing autographs, and somehow managed to sneak my way into an Instagram story of his. 

2017: The year I watched Fernando Alonso sit on a makeshift bull and get lassoed by Nico Hulkenberg. 

Oh yes, this happened. The formats for driver-fan interaction varies each year as the track and sport tries to come up with the best way for the hundreds of thousands of eager fans to see their favorite racers in person. This year, their ‘fan forum’ featured short interviews on the amphitheater stage and a lasso contest for teams. No one was particularly good at it, but Daniel Ricciardo had a hay-day (pun intended) doing it and showing off his American themed socks. Fernando Alonso made a real show of sitting on this bale of hay that was adorned with a bull’s head, with Nico Hulkenberg doing his very best to whip the rope around him. 

I was more than pleased to see Sebastian in second at this race, considering his luck at this circuit is so-so. I’m hoping for the day I’ll be present to watch him stand on the top step. 

2018: The year Kimi took the crown, it rained, and I drew on a race car. 

This was another wet year, I’ve got the videos to prove it. But it definitely wasn’t all bad. Kimi Raikkonen pulled out a stunning victory, one that certainly had me waving my Ferrari flag high and proud. I was taken by the shoulders and shaken and hugged by a pair of strangers next to me, both of whom were Ferrari fans as well. 

Also, I got to draw on an old formula car that was being created as an art installation. I wasn’t supposed to help, but I asked, and the artists kindly trusted my invisible art talent and let me do a few doodles on it. Definitely proud to say I contributed to it, if only with a couple squiggles. 

2019: The year I missed my flight and went to the Hollywood Festival.

I attend school in Los Angeles, California, and so I took advantage the F1 Hollywood Festival that was going on at the Walk of Fame this year. I dragged my brother there, sitting in traffic for an hour of wonderful fun. Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, and Alex Albon were all there, and did donuts on the road. The noise was so loud and they were pretty close to the viewers. Honestly, it was so much fun and worth the trip. 

The 2019 U.S. Grand Prix was a race that most Vettel fans would rather forget, myself included. After a snapped suspension, my favorite driver was out, and I slumped down on my cold bleacher seat and pouted. This wasn’t to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy my time there — I always do, but I’m a bit of a sore loser. 

After the race was over, we got stuck in traffic so badly that we missed our flight out of Austin. We had to fly all the way to New Orleans before taking a flight back to LAX. I got back to my apartment at 2:30am, and had a class at 7am that Monday morning. It’s safe to say that was not a pleasant morning. 

2020: The year it didn’t happen. 

No, no race this year. No countdown, no anxious waiting for the first sound of the cars. No early morning wake-ups. Nothing. 

I was missing my favorite thing in the whole entire world. Months and months went by and

F1 wasn’t on my television. 

I sat and waited, but not entirely in sadness. 

I found entertainment in the many Twitch streams of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, George Russell, and Nicholas Latifi. I was over the moon when the notoriously private Sebastian Vettel resurfaced, gracing fans with a small video of gentle reassurance that the sport would return. I was devastated when he shared his separation from Ferrari, panicked as to how long I would have to wait before he either announced retirement or that he had signed with another team (good news, he’s sticking around).

It would be around this time I might be heading to Austin for the race, but this year I’ll be at home. There will be no race in the States, but that is okay. My favorite sport is back, my favorite driver is still racing, and I am still breathing. 

I can’t wait for 2021.